@ionstream,
1. No, I think they were absolutely aware (it would be naive of them not to be), but when you have multiple terabytes of data uploaded daily by third-parties, how can you expect to police it? (see my answer to your next point too)
2. Yes-ish. Megaupload can remove specific instances of uploads, but not do the same in a more general way. That is, when told that 'this person here has uploaded without permission' then they can remove the link, but to remove all other instances of that file assumes the knowledge that none of the uploads of the same file content are legitimate - as we found out with Viacom vs Youtube, even the copyright owner doesn't know what they uploaded themselves - and yes, I agree that argument is a little weak with a short term file-share site with a large copyright owner, but they aren't all large companies.
3. Yes
4. Correct, unless they are notified that the content is infringing.
6. Correct - this is what the DMCA is all about. If you are registered and accept/action DMCA notices, then you are NOT liable for third-party infringement.
7. Hmmm - how could Megaupload know what is infringing and what isn't? They can't know until the copyright owner tells them.
8. The size of the copyright owner has no bearing. See 7.
9. No - they should absolutely be able to enforce their own laws within their borders, and outside those borders when reciprocal agreements are in place with other governments.
@KeithC,
You found infringing material, I agree. However that's nothing to do with your original statement regarding the lack of search facilities which is what I was responding to, or anything to do with Megaupload's knowledge of the material (which I assume they removed when notified?)
I would argue (and do in my answer to Quik later) that not having a search facility is actually entirely in-keeping with a short-term file sharing site.
@Quik,
Quote: "isnt it better to have the ability to just type in a search word"
Why would you need to search on a site used to swapping files between people where the filename is already known by those people?
Anyway, such a search is not useful in most cases.
For example, I might create a file called DBPro.zip and upload it - searching for the name doesn't tell you what is inside it, and in my case at least, it most probably would contain something I'd written
for DBPro and was sharing with someone. You can't assume anything from a filename, even if the filename ends with .mp3 or .avi
As another example, I might actually make a backup of my DBPro directory and upload it temporarily while I rebuild my machine (I have several servers with lots of storage so wouldn't actually do this), so that I can restore it later. I won't have distributed the filename to anyone, so it's not going to be downloaded by anyone but me later, and as there's no search facility, no one is going to accidentally stumble upon it. Is that copyright infringement? Technically yes, morally (IMO) no - otherwise it's 'bad' to make any kind of backup.
